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Savannah considers bolstering dangerous dog rules

The City Council recently has discussed further strengthening Savannah’s animal control ordinance beyond changes that Chatham County recently adopted.

New in the revised ordinance is a wider net for classifying a dog as potentially dangerous. Under the current ordinance, a dog has to bite or chase a human without provocation to be considered potentially dangerous. Under the proposed changes, that classification would also include any dog that attacks another dog being walked on a leash.

That’s welcome news to some dog owners, including Kristen Smith. Smith lives in Coffee Bluff, but when she was driving down Edgewater Road near Paradise Park recently, she witnessed what she thinks was a blue pit bull attack another dog on a leash.

“This dog came charging out of its backyard and started attacking this woman’s dog — a much smaller dog,” Smith said. “I started blowing my horn and finally the dog went back to its yard.”

The woman with the leashed dog walked away apparently unscathed and on quicker feet, Smith said.

“(The owner) needs to secure the fence better, especially with Bartlett Middle School being right there,” she said. “With school starting back, kids are walking down that street all the time.”

Toughening the ordinance to classify dogs who attack leashed dogs as potentially dangerous, she said, is “probably a good idea.”

Savannah-Chatham police Lt. Brenda Boulware, who commands Animal Control, said she wanted to dispel a common misconception that dogs have to bite someone before action can be taken against them or their owners.

“There is not free bite in Chatham County (and Savannah),” she said. “If a dog charges somebody or attacks aggressively, we can have a potentially dangerous dog hearing separate from a Recorder’s Court hearing.”

The revised ordinance also requires the owner of a dangerous dog to carry $50,000 in insurance or surety bond, raised from $25,000, and mandates that any dog deemed dangerous by the authorities be muzzled and physically restrained by a responsible person when outside a proper enclosure.

City officials want other steps considered, including whether an owner of a dangerous dog must be required to have a sturdy, fenced enclosure to keep it contained and whether the required insurance should be increased.

Savannah-Chatham’s insurance requirements are already much higher than the state’s $15,000 requirement, but Alderwoman Estella Shabazz pointed to the potential costs incurred by a vicious dog attack, saying that hospital bills alone could top $50,000 when someone is severely bitten.

Alderman John Hall found no fault with the ordinance, but thought council was overlooking a far more obvious problem.

“We don’t have anybody to capture these crazy dogs running in the streets,” he said. “We need more Animal Control officers out there on the streets.”

County-wide, Boulware said, Animal Control has five officers to respond to calls.

As some council members began calling for increased funding to the department, City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney and Mayor Edna Jackson reminded them that Animal Control is funded by the county, not the city. The city and county are negotiating shared costs of the metro police budget and will put a group together to address concerns with animal control funding.

Two residents who have been pushing for a stronger ordinance addressed council.

Cheryl LaBon believes too many residents are afraid to call police for fear their names will be shared with the owners of dangerous dogs. City officials told her residents could call CrimeStoppers or the citizens’ 311 line to remain anonymous.

The Rev. Leonard Small, who has helped Javon Roberson recover after the 7-year-old was mauled by pit bulls in June 2011, urged council to send another resolution to the legislature to toughen state law. In other parts of the state, Small said, the “first bite” rule is in play.

Small wants officials to focus on the burden of recovery and hospital bills a dog bite victim faces. He reminded council of what might have happened had Bernard Moultrie, Herbert Swain and Henry Murphy not been there to help Javon. The men beat off the two dogs with bricks before finally shooting the attacking animals.

“If it wasn’t for some decent men, some courageous men,” Small said, “we would have had a funeral instead of going to the hospital.”

Javon needed more than 200 stitches to close bites to his face and head. The scarring is still quite evident, Small said, and will be for the rest of Javon’s life. As Javon continues to heal, there hasn’t been any thought of even allowing the child near another dog.

It would be too traumatic, Small said, adding for explanation: “You don’t take a guy with PTSD out to Hunter to watch bombs blow up.”